The Science of Crowd Psychology
Viral communications seems to some to be a bit of a newfangled, half-baked idea, of interest only to teenagers, tech nerds and obnoxious green-screen comedians.
But the science of crowd psychology is hardly a new idea at all. In fact, it's quite old and well documented.
Heck, I'm not even the first guy to think this stuff has strong business implications and applications. Just last week, I was browsing through an article out of the Harvard Business Review on Ernest Dichter's work back in the sixties on crowd motivation.
Dr. Evil
Dichter is the supposedly "evil genius" who brought Freudian psychology to Madison Avenue on a silver platter. He is credited with inventing focus groups and such. He coined "put a tiger in your tank" for Esso. And when he determined young girls wanted something sexy in the dollhouse he created Barbie for Mattel.
Dichter determined there are four things that motivate a body to tell other folks about something. He was thinking about brands, but the ideas are really the viral spread of ideas - that is to say, memes.
Here are his four rules:
"The first (about 33% of the cases) is because of product-involvement. The experience is so novel and pleasurable that it must be shared."
"The second (about 24%) is self-involvement. Sharing knowledge or opinions is a way to gain attention, show connoisseurship, feel like a pioneer, have inside information, seek confirmation of a person's own judgment, or assert superiority."
"The third (around 20%) is other-involvement. The speaker wants to reach out and help to express neighborliness, caring, and friendship."
"The fourth (around 20%) is message-involvement. The message is so humorous or informative that it deserves sharing."
I'd like to think I write to you each week because of Reasons #3 and #4, but my wife says it's more likely #2.
Adam Lass
Editor, Wealth Daily
100,000 Lemmings Can't Be Wrong? ... http://www.corporatejourney2u.com/investment/100000-lemmings-cant-be-wrong.html
But the science of crowd psychology is hardly a new idea at all. In fact, it's quite old and well documented.
Heck, I'm not even the first guy to think this stuff has strong business implications and applications. Just last week, I was browsing through an article out of the Harvard Business Review on Ernest Dichter's work back in the sixties on crowd motivation.
Dr. Evil
Dichter is the supposedly "evil genius" who brought Freudian psychology to Madison Avenue on a silver platter. He is credited with inventing focus groups and such. He coined "put a tiger in your tank" for Esso. And when he determined young girls wanted something sexy in the dollhouse he created Barbie for Mattel.
Dichter determined there are four things that motivate a body to tell other folks about something. He was thinking about brands, but the ideas are really the viral spread of ideas - that is to say, memes.
Here are his four rules:
"The first (about 33% of the cases) is because of product-involvement. The experience is so novel and pleasurable that it must be shared."
"The second (about 24%) is self-involvement. Sharing knowledge or opinions is a way to gain attention, show connoisseurship, feel like a pioneer, have inside information, seek confirmation of a person's own judgment, or assert superiority."
"The third (around 20%) is other-involvement. The speaker wants to reach out and help to express neighborliness, caring, and friendship."
"The fourth (around 20%) is message-involvement. The message is so humorous or informative that it deserves sharing."
I'd like to think I write to you each week because of Reasons #3 and #4, but my wife says it's more likely #2.
Adam Lass
Editor, Wealth Daily
100,000 Lemmings Can't Be Wrong? ... http://www.corporatejourney2u.com/investment/100000-lemmings-cant-be-wrong.html
